Premier League: GW12 – Part 2

With only a single fixture on the books for Sunday, Watford hosted West Ham, now under David Moyes. For the Hammers, it was much of the same, as Watford scored 2 goals and kept a clean sheet behind some excellent goal keeping from Heurelho Gomes. For me, it meant running out Richarlison Andrade for the third consecutive week as my captain of choice.
It was Gameweek 10, on the back of my first -4 point hit of the season that I introduced Richarlison to my starting XI in place of Jack Cork, as the second part of a transfer that saw Ben Davies depart in favor of Stephen Ward. To date, both players have been instrumental in helping me achieve green arrows in the last 3 gameweeks.

For Richarlison, it’s been three weeks as my captain, opting out of the “popular” options we’ve heard from pundits and polls on fantasy sites. It some regard it was more of a “heart over head” move, as a Watford supporter. However, captaincy points have been difficult to come by this season, as such it’s been the heart of my problem scoring points all season. Heading into Gameweek 12, just 13.77% of my overall points (581) have been come from a player wearing the armband. That’s just 80 points, with Harry Kane failing more than scoring, however in defense of Kane, I did miss out his goals in GW4 and again in GW6. If I had hit on both those weeks, I might be thinking more positive about my captaincy returns.

Introduced in GW10, Richarlison was on a run of form, returning in the previous 4 fixtures (2 goals, 3 assists). Looking forward it was a good run for Watford, he seemed the logical choice at £6.4 to replace Cork, after saving a bit of money moving Davies. He was also handed the armband against a struggling Stoke City side that saw off Watford at Vicarage Road, 1-0, as Richarlison didn’t return. Questions arose around Richarlison, the young Brazilian couldn’t score at home.

However, Richarlison’s numbers are strong, compared with Harry Kane:

41 Kane – PENATLTY TOUCHES – 33 Richarlison

37 Kane – GOAL ATTEMPTS – 43 Richarilson

4/2 Bane – BCT/BCS – 10/4 Richarlison

On the season both players sit on 66 points, Richarlison on the back of 5 goals, 4 assists and 4 bonus points, while Kane has posted 8 goals, 1 assist and 12 bonus points. The bigger difference between these two players has been the consistency over 12 gameweeks. While it’s comparing apples and oranges, due to the difference of their positions, Kane has returned in just 4 out of 12 games, while Richarlison has 8 returns on the season. This week being his first goal at Vicarage, with 2 assists already in the books.

While Gameweek 10 saw a no return for the Brazilian, I decided to roll the dice and not follow the captain polls, ignoring the pundits and handing Richarlison the armband, both in and out of the international break. Gameweek 11 he returned 7 points, on the back of a goal. He should of had an assist, but Tom Cleverley shanked the penalty after Richarlison was brought down in the Everton box.

This weekend, it was another risky decision to hand the armband to the Brazilian, going in knowing he had not returned any goals at home. I stayed true to my words and after seeing Kane fail in the North London derby, I knew I made the right decision, regardless of the outcome. Thankfully Richarlison didn’t let some 12k fantasy managers down and returned a goal against West Ham, picked up a clean sheet point as well.

That’s 30 points over the last 2 gameweeks for Richarlison at a cut rate price of £6.4. Doubts about him scoring at Vicarage Road could be eased after this performance, in which Watford controlled the game, taking 17 shots, 7 of which were on target. Looking ahead to Newcastle, I feel confident that Richarlison will be in contention to wear the armband again.

On the weekend I sit on 74 points after the performance by Richarlison and looking ahead to Monday with Pascal Groß to feature against home against Stoke City. I’m just 4 points shy of my season high of 78 points, so an assist would not be stretching it. I also look to be posting a stronger green arrow after today, which might see me inside 500k for the first time all season.